Learn to Use Your Intuition

I came to Paramhansa Yogananda in 1948, after reading his book, Autobiography of a Yogi.

I sought him out for my own salvation. I also sought him in consequence of a deep concern that I myself had felt for the future of mankind. For I had come to realize that without divine guidance, the human race had entered, in this century, upon so vast a territory of new developments that the chances of its losing its way had become astronomical.

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After reading his book, I understood that here was the message that could guide mankind past the pitfalls of modern times.

Inspired by the vision of spiritually focused communities in the new age, I founded Ananda in 1968 – twenty years after I first met Yogananda.

In developing Ananda, I did my best always to draw lessons from his example, and from his way of teaching and guiding others. If Master saw that the recognition of a truth was simply lacking in a person, he dropped the subject. In this respect, too, he demonstrated a central principle of effective leadership: never to impose, but to try, rather, to inspire others from within to develop their own understanding.

Here’s an example of how he worked: In 1949 he put me in charge of the monks. A year later, he asked me to organize them. Until then, the monks had never been organized.

One might assume that he devoted hours to instructing me on how to organize them. Instead, he relied on my attunement with him to perceive his wishes and carry them out. From time to time he would make a few suggestions, or utter a brief cautionary remark. Occasionally he would correct me, if he saw that I hadn’t understood him in some particular. Otherwise, he simply kept an eye on what I was doing, every now and then expressing satisfaction, otherwise leaving it to me to do as I felt guided from within.

Most of his training of us was on an intuitive level, from within. It was enough, in my organizing of the monks, that I had grasped the spirit of what he intended, and was in tune with his inner guidance. From that level of understanding, the details would, he knew, follow as a natural consequence.

Always, his guidance focused on the inner spirit of anything we did. Even when lecturing, he said, “Concentrate on giving your audience your vibrations. Don’t concentrate only on the thoughts you are expressing.”

There was a time when we badly needed a skilled worker for the print shop. Since this had been a subject of discussion for some weeks, it was with a glow of triumph that I approached the Master one day with the news, “Sir, we have a new man for the print shop!”

“Why do you say that?” he demanded. “First, see if they have our spirit. Then look to see where they will fit into our work.”

On one occasion I accepted for residence in the monastery someone who even I knew was not ready for our way of life. The man desperately needed a spiritual boost, however, and seemed determined to do his best. The Master, seeing him for the first time one day, remarked to me later, “I am going to have to give you intuition!”

This principle of doing things by intuition, rather than by reason alone, became important to me in the founding of Ananda. I had, of course, to use common sense also. It became increasingly clear to me, however, that without intuition nothing major can ever be accomplished.

One of the instructions Master gave me was, “Don’t make too many rules. It destroys the spirit.”

Expansiveness. Solution-orientedness. Judging people’s fitness for position by their spirit more than by their abilities. Encouraging subordinates to develop their own intuition, attunement, and understanding, rather than carefully spelling out for them every move. Giving them a chance to learn from their mistakes. Reviewing actions after the event, rather than fretting in advance over everything that might conceivably go wrong. Supportiveness. Love: These were a few of the ways in which Paramhansa Yogananda pointed the way toward enlightened management in the new age of energy-awareness.